The November election’s message to Obama to back off notwithstanding, the president knows he can count on a friendly media saying Congress is blocking his “reforms” rather than challenge his not meeting Congress in the middle on their ideas.

Note that the defining feature of the 114th Congress’ agenda is not so much things they will do, but reforms to undo. The congressional emphasis, really, is reforming government excess, to reduce government to its proper size.

It’s actually supposed to be hard to pass laws; government isn’t always our friend or acting in the general interest. Usually, to turn the famous phrase on its head, "There ought not be a law," because most aspects of our lives and communities are not public policy issues (let alone federal policy issues) and should not be turned into such.

In any event, Congress passed and the president signed into law 129 Public Laws in 2014, as I’ve derived from the Government Publishing Office’s archive of Public Laws. There had been 72 laws in 2013. So 201 is the total for the 113th Congress.

We know the LA Times, Rolling Stone,New York Times and Washington Post, all wish there were more laws.

Wish granted.

Congress may have passed "only" 129 Public Laws this year before Obama’s Hawaii trip, but federal agencies are always there to take up slack.

That’s not even counting the pen and phone and other regulatory dark matter that are rising in prominence like bulletins, guidance documents, blog posts and press conferences that amount to “law” in their own right.

The erosion of the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine, and the very notion of a balance of powers besides, means that regulators and bureaucrats now make most laws. Obama’s multiple, it may be seen, tends to be higher than Bush.

The “Unconstitutionality Index” symbolizes the fruits of over-delegation of congressional power by Congress. Over-delegation has emboldened the executive branch such that, if there are limits it recognizes, one cannot fathom what they might be.

New Year’s Day just passed, with countless “What’s In, What’s Out” lists. Clearly, Congress is just oh-so-1789. Can the 114th Congress take back its rightful, constitutional power, and become the cool kids in 2015?